Episode 103 - Fired for Being ＂Too American.＂ Reporter Claims Covering North Korea is Safer than Covering the White House. Strippers Go Digital.
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Summary
The President's condition is improving, and he's back on the road to recovery. President Trump also tweets about the need to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online platforms from liability for their speech and conduct.
Transcript
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Welcome to Hot Takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Let's talk about the news.
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The news is that the president's condition is improving. I'll let him give you his hot take.
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Here's the president. I just left Walter Reed Medical Center and it's really something very
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special. The doctors, the nurses, the first responders. And I learned so much about
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coronavirus. And one thing that's for certain, don't let it dominate you. Don't be afraid of it.
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You're going to beat it. We have the best medical equipment. We have the best medicines all developed
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recently. And you're going to beat it. I went, I didn't feel so good. And two days ago, I could
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have left two days ago. Two days ago, I felt great, like better than I have in a long time. I said just
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recently, better than 20 years ago. Don't let it dominate. Don't let it take over your lives.
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Don't let that happen. We have the greatest country in the world. We're going back. We're going back
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to work. We're going to be out front. As your leader, I had to do that. I knew there's danger
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to it, but I had to do it. I stood out front. I led. Nobody that's a leader would not do what I did.
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And I know there's a risk. There's a danger, but that's okay. And now I'm better. And maybe I'm
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immune. I don't know. But don't let it dominate your lives. Get out there. Be careful. We have the
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best medicines in the world. And it all happened very shortly. And they're all getting approved.
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And the vaccines are coming momentarily. Thank you very much. And Walter Reed,
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what a group of people. Thank you very much. The president is also back contributing to
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policy discussion, tweeting today, repeal 230. That's section 230 of the Communication Decency Act.
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It's something that we've discussed on the podcast before that there's a lot of legislation around.
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Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act gives liability protection
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to major technology platforms so long as they are, in fact, neutral platforms. And those,
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of course, are different liability protections that are given to publishers. You know, a publisher
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would be considered your local newspaper or even Fox News or MSNBC or CNN. Matter of fact,
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this podcast could be considered a publication, but it wouldn't be considered a platform. It's hosted
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on Apple, which is a platform. Section 230 then cloaks these platforms from threats of lawsuits and other
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liabilities that they might otherwise accrue. And the consequence of that is that they've been able
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to grow very large and get a lot of market dominance and, in fact, divert from the mission
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of a non-biased platform to one of a curator, a publisher. Look, Apple decides what podcasts you see
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and don't see. If there's a particular viewpoint they don't like, they could suppress it. You know,
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Amazon could determine what type of literature you should read or should not read. And they could
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suppress or enhance certain types of content. And obviously, we see on social media like Facebook
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and Twitter, the willingness to self, I guess, you know, appoint as the truth monitors, as the
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hall monitors of mean tweets or those who would suppress your ability to see maybe a conflicting
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viewpoint, someone who has an alternate perspective. And maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong, but should
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people be able to make that decision for themselves or should the so-called unbiased platform, you know,
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laid out, designated in Section 230, have the right to do that for you? So I'm glad the president is
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taking a strong stand against these tech platforms. I think we need a lot more transparency. And it's
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one of the things we worked on in the antitrust subcommittee. That brings me to the news of the
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antitrust subcommittee. There is a report coming out from Chairman Cicilline that has major agreement
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on findings from Ken Buck and myself, Doug Collins, there may be other Republicans that sign on to it.
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But you have a bipartisan work product, a bipartisan agreement that there are practices that are
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utilized by Amazon and Apple and Facebook and Google that are anti-competitive. And there are
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options to deal with that from a legislative standpoint. I think that before you change the
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law, you need good enforcement of the existing law. So I think that there's work that can be done at the
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Department of Justice to ensure that there is compliance with an existing antitrust law and
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also that there's sufficient transparency to demonstrate that these entities are in fact
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non-biased platforms and that they aren't engaged in the other conduct from the report. So we'll post
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links on our official Twitter to the Cicilline report, but joined in large part on the factual findings
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with myself, Congressman Buck, Congressman Doug Collins, the former ranking member of the Judiciary
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Committee, a now candidate for the U.S. Senate. And there may be other Republicans that sign on as
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well. We'll certainly make mention of those on social media. Check it out.
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How out-of-work strippers made their show virtual and are taking the power back. That's Medica Esther's
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story in the Los Angeles Times. And the story comes from a strip club in Los Angeles called Jumbo's Clown Room.
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And the ladies who worked there realized that no one was going to save their business, that the model
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was pretty much over in the era of COVID. And then they created a website where they put their content
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online and mixed their normal dancing activity with edgy social and political commentary. They have now
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shared with this reporter that creating content online allows them to be more empowered, allows them
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to make more money, it allows them to avoid some of the more seedy elements of the industry that
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they're in, and direct to consumer, just like a lot of other businesses. So I'm not here to either
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criticize or endorse anyone's decision to do this for a living. But I do think it is an interesting
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commentary on how something pre-coronavirus can change in a way that actually empowers the worker
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rather than the corporate entity, right? Like probably the guy who owns the strip club or gal who
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owns it or whomever is not able to move the model as fast as the working class. And so is there a way
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in other elements of our commerce and other elements of our life where being more direct, being more
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digital, being more connected, allows us to be more empowered and more prosperous? Are there ways in
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any of our jobs where we could think, you know, that that might be a commonality? I don't know.
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That's why I thought the LA Times story was interesting. Check it out. Let me know what you think.
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Quite the hot take from CBS White House reporter Ben Tracy, tweeting,
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I feel safer reporting in North Korea than I currently do reporting at the White House.
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This is just crazy. And then he added a tweet, for context, folks, this is in reference to the
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COVID-19 outbreak at the White House. So we do understand that there has been a coronavirus
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outbreak at the White House. But it seems worth noting that in North Korea, they actually kill
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journalists who are critical of the administration as dissidents. That is not something that is comparable
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that is not something that is acceptable. All of humankind should, I think, call North Korea to
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have a free and open press. But they're nowhere near that. They have a state that literally puts
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your life in danger and kills you. I think at the White House, while it's been a challenging
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environment, and look, it's a very small environment. I've been over there to the White House. It is not
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like this big, grand, large space when you really get in there to the offices and the press room. I mean,
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the press reporting room is a very small, huddled up little area where a lot of those reporters are
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working on their stories. And even the West Wing offices are not large. And the conference rooms are
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not, you know, any larger than a conference room you might expect at a medium-sized law firm. But
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they're august and important. But it is difficult at all times to social distance in the White House. So
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we will see the president, I'm sure, taking every precaution now that he's back to feeling better.
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But we also, I think, should calm down a little before suggesting that working in and around the
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White House is anything tantamount to dealing with reporting in North Korea on a dictatorship
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that kills reporters. The Wall Street Journal has the story, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell saying
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the U.S. faces tragic risks for doing too little to support the U.S. economy. He claims the recovery
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will be stronger and move faster if government spending supports the economy until it is clearly
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out of the woods. The Federal Reserve Chairman then lays blame at the Congress and White House for not
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reaching a deal to provide additional support to households and businesses disrupted by coronavirus.
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Quote, the expansion is still far from complete, Mr. Powell said in remarks to be delivered at a
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virtual economics conference on Tuesday. So the Fed has printed like $9 trillion as a consequence of
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our coronavirus response. They have kept major businesses in the country afloat. They've kept the
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airline industry operating to the extent that they have been, you know, with still a lot of job loss
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there. And there is a call here, I think, to direct additional support, you know, to the people. And I
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think also I would suggest to a lot of the small businesses who maybe don't have access to some of
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those Fed programs that are intended for the largest businesses in the country. Essentially, there was
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there was one program that was basically set up for for Boeing, GE, those types of very familiar
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companies. And there are conservatives deeply concerned about what this says about how our
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nation responds. And I think there are also those who say, well, look, we've printed $9 trillion and
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the dollar is still the hottest in the world. I mean, the dollar is still very strong. We have not seen the type
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of inflation impact. We've not seen the type of weakening of the dollar compared to other markets.
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And I think it's because when you look around the world, you know, the euro having its problems,
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having to deal with likely a protracted dispute over Britain's exit. And in fact, the EU, we saw some
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reporting on this, even talking about litigating with Britain over their proposed exit without a deal
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and they're not in compliance with with prior versions of the deal. And so you've got the euro
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that's sort of a mess, you've got the structural debt problems in China, and in the Asian markets.
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And so we've been able to print money to bridge our country through this unprecedented global pandemic.
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And we've survived doing so. Now, I don't think that means that, you know, you just totally let go of
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the reins and allow the American dollar to become funny money. I think we've got to make sure that we
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utilize that which we've already appropriated and spent. I think that we also don't want to create
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the type of moral hazard, where if state and local governments make bad decisions, then there really
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are no consequences because every pandemic, every challenge will justify this big backfill. Well,
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you know what that'll mean? State and local governments will make more bad financial decisions.
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That's the whole concept of moral hazard. So it's my expectation that we will continue to see
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a lot of posturing around this until the election. While the reauthorization of the Paycheck Protection
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Act would be totally bipartisan and would pass overwhelmingly, Nancy Pelosi still refuses to
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allow us to take a vote on that issue. And again, you know, this is one of the major critiques I have
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with Congress. It's one of the reasons why Congress doesn't really get a whole lot done in America.
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issues are not given the dignity of a separate vote, and they are all wrapped up in one gigantic deal
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or not. And what that does is it empowers the deal makers at the expense of everyone else and their
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constituents and the country and the sound logic that comes with decision making as a body as our
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founders intended. I hope we can do better. Not optimistic before the election, and the Fed chairman
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says could be consequences. Read about it in the Wall Street Journal.
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We found this story on revolver.news originally reported in the New York Post. Man fired for being
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too American, old, and wearing khakis. A former marketing executive was chastised by his bosses for
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being too American, wearing khaki pants to work, and being old. According to an EEOC complaint,
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the gentleman's name, Gray Hollett, he was at Boyden World Corporation, a high profile consulting and
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talent acquisition firm. 61 years old was his age. And apparently, his nationality being American was
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deemed something that was derogatory, that other people were attacking him on based on on this. And,
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you know, in the complaint, Hollett said, I felt quite humiliated, a dad of two, and a Long Island native
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who lives in Connecticut, of being criticized for his just normal, regular business attire. No one
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should be criticized or ridiculed based on the color of their skin, their nation of origin, the language
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that they speak. And I think that those protections should extend to everybody. We'll follow the case and
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report back on any further hot takes. The election for president is very much underway. People are voting.
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CBS4 Miami has the numbers. More than 571,000 Floridians have already cast ballots for the November
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election. As Monday marked the final day residents could register to vote. As of Monday morning,
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571,718 vote by mail ballots had been cast with 306,037 from Democrats and 157,924 from Republicans.
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About another 100,000 or so have been cast from voters without party affiliation and about 6,500
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from voters with minor party affiliation. Another 4.78 million ballots were mailed out but have not been
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returned with more than 2.1 million going to Democrats and more than 1.5 million going to
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Republicans. So Democrats have more vote by mail ballots out. They are returning them at a rate that
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has them, you know, about 150, 140, 150,000 votes ahead of the Republicans. But again, those NPAs
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in Florida, you know, a lot of those sort of break to the right. So it wouldn't surprise me if
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Republicans were able to cut away at the edge with some of those. But no doubt, the numbers here
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showing that Republicans are absolutely going to need a huge day on election day to win the state
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of Florida. That huge election day has occurred in each of the last two elections, providing just
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enough margin for Governor Ron DeSantis and Rick Scott, and providing about 130,000 vote margin for
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Democrats. So this is the good news for Democrats. In Florida, the good news for Republicans is that they
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have substantially closed the registration gap with Democrats, Democrats choosing not to do a lot of
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door to door campaigning or voter registration. Instead, you're going more with a digital approach,
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Republicans beat the pavement, got the voter registration in kind of cut the Democrats typical
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advantage there. And so if Republicans are able to juice that election day turnout, this is sort of
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setting up for them to be able to continue to prevail, unless the Democrats can continue to build the
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types of margins and vote by mail that we see now that that are very favorable. Like I mean, look,
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they have a bigger vote by mail margin now than Donald Trump won the election by in the state of
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Florida back in 2016. So we'll keep watching the numbers and keep giving everybody the report from
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There's a CNBC story getting a lot of attention by Robert Frank, Biden defines $400,000 a year as wealthy,
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here's what it buys in big cities. Democratic presidential candidate says that his tax hike
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would only affect the wealthy. He defines the wealthy as those making more than $400,000 a year
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by national measures. Those making $400,000 belong to a rarefied group. They represent the top 1.8%
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of taxpayers earning about 25% of the nation's income. But and then this is the controversial part.
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This is where CNBC is getting some flack on social media. They say, but according to a financial
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planning analysis, families making $400,000 a year aren't exactly living large, especially in
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major cities. And the report goes on to detail the fact that, you know, you've got a lot of family
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incomes that would exceed that $400,000 threshold, but that there are a lot of expenses that a lot of
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family have, you know, that are eaten up in things like school care, child care, you know, those are
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those are major expenses for a lot of families. And they're also expenses that, you know, help families,
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you know, grow stronger when you're able to actually provide like, you know, funds for education,
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college education, you can save for that a lot of these middle, upper middle class families by CNBC's
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labeling are making those financial accommodations. That said, you know, there are still far too many,
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Americans, you know, who don't have a thousand dollars in their checking account and a major
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medical event, a major change to someone's job status, you know, could really wipe somebody out
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and change their life in a negative way forever. And so I think that, you know, there, there is this
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divide, you know, the CNBC crowd apparently thinking, well, you know, 400,000, uh, that, that by a
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statistical revenue and cost standpoint, doesn't necessarily put someone in the position to want to be
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paying more taxes. Uh, and then you've got the folks saying on social media, well, that's a whole,
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those are, those are the type of problems that I guess the 1.8 top percent of taxpayers have that
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the rest of us wish we had. So I've never made $400,000 a year. If I made $400,000 a year, uh, I
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would definitely, uh, not consider myself a part of the middle class. I would consider myself very,
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very privileged and very blessed. Uh, but, uh, that hadn't been the case for me. Uh, anyway,
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let me know what you think. Check out the CNBC report. Thanks so much for listening to today's
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episode of hot takes. I'm Congressman Matt Gaetz. Give us a five-star rating, leave us a review,
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let us know what you'd like to hear on the show and make sure to tune in tomorrow for more hot takes.